Fabien Frankel On Criston Cole’s Shocking ‘House Of The Dragon’ Moment

It was a heck of a wedding feast.

Ser Criston Cole House of the Dragon Fabien Frankel

House Of The Dragon star Fabien Frankel discusses Ser Criston Cole’s shocking moment in the latest episode of the hit HBO series.

In the first episode of House Of The Dragon, audiences were introduced to Fabien Frankel’s Ser Criston Cole. A lowborn man, he wins the favor of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen during a tournament. He is later added to the Kingsguard by her as he is the only candidate who has seen actual combat. Unfortunately, things between the two characters quickly became complicated.

SPOILER ALERT FOR HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’S LATEST EPISODES

In the show’s fourth episode the two became lovers, complicating everyone’s relationships with one another. When it is made clear that Rhenyra must wed her cousin Laenor Velaryon, Criston Cole offers to run away from her, which she coldly rejects. This eventually boils over during Rhenyra’s wedding feast where Cole brutally beats Laenor’s secret male lover to death.

What Caused Ser Criston Cole To Snap?

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Criston Cole actor Fabien Frankel weighed in on the shocking House of the Dragon moment, remarking that his character wasn’t actively looking to hurt anyone and wanted to be as far away from the events as possible:

“I don’t think he’s searching for any form of conflict at this wedding at all. If anything, he wants to be as far away as humanly possible.”

Later on, Fabien Frankel speculated that it wasn’t so much that Rhaenyra rejected Criston Cole so much as it was the way she rejected him:

“I don’t think it’s because [Rhaenyra] says she won’t go away with him. I think it’s the way in which she says she won’t go away with him. That scene could so easily have been written [as] he asks her to run away with him, she understands why he feels this way, she can’t give up her role as queen, but what she will offer him is an out if he would like to leave the Kingsguard. That very much could be the scenario that happens. It isn’t. That to me is very interesting. She chose to keep him there. She made him stand through that wedding. That’s where the animosity builds.”

Here is the synopsis for House of the Dragon:

Based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, the series will tell the story of House Targaryen (a.k.a. the House that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen) and take place 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones.

Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan J. Condal serve as co-showrunners on House of the Dragon and are executive producing alongside George R. R. Martin. The series features a star-studded cast that includes Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Paddy Considine, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, and Sonoya Mizuno.

New episodes of House Of The Dragon premiere on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 9 ET. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the series and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.

Trey Griffeth

Trey Griffeth

Lover of video games, comics, and movies! Writer of all things that involve them!